For Hugo, wherever he is

Boston Herald editorial staffWednesday, February 06, 2013

Hugo Chavez, inaugurated last month in an elaborate and altogether bizarre ceremony where the guest of honor was MIA, is apparently lying in a Cuban hospital bed while his cronies run the show back home in Venezuela. Meanwhile Venezuelans are forced to rely on such reliable sources as Fidel Castro for updates on the their president’s health — Chavez, Castro said in a rare public appearance in Cuba this week, is getting better! — but haven’t laid eyes on him since early December.

Of course none of that has discouraged Joseph P. Kennedy II from airing his annual thank-you note to Citgo and the people of Venezuela (as if they have any say in the matter) and to Chavez himself for coming to the aid of folks in Massachusetts in their time of need, as he promotes the fuel assistance program run by Citizens Energy.

No, no one should be left out in the cold.

But isn’t it time for Kennedy & Co. to update the ad script?

Of course if Chavez’s friendship with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his preference for tweaking American leaders instead of taking care of his own people weren’t enough to convince Kennedy that the partnership is more than a bit questionable, Chavez’s absence from the public stage surely won’t be either.

At this point the people of Venezuela would probably settle for a sign — other than Fidel Castro’s word — that their leader might one day return to run the country he was “elected” to serve.